These 9 Animals Are Closer to Human Than You Think

We may think that we as people are significantly different from animals, but as time goes on we are learning more ways that we are similar to the creatures around us. Here are nine animals that have what were once distinctly human traits.

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1.

Personality Traits of Chimpanzees

This one is controversial, even in the scientific community: researchers in the UK have asserted that the personality traits of humans overlap with those of chimpanzees. In 2012 researchers argued that chimpanzees exhibit many traits used to define humans. It may be connected to genetic similarities, but opposing arguments point out how we as humans tend to project ourselves onto the outside world.

Comfort Eating Cats and Dogs

We personally love big fat cats, but those extra pounds could be indicative of your pet experiencing emotional problems. According to vets, cats and dogs comfort eat like humans do, out of boredom, anxiety, depression, or other familiar factors we experience ourselves. If you think it's an easy fix, think again: vets also find that cats and dogs put on a diet to curb the problem experience even worse symptoms.

4.

Read the Face of a Mouse

It's not secret that mice are used for medical experimentation. This is because they have quite a lot in common with humans from a biological standpoint. But another area in which we overlap is facial expressions. Researchers have noticed that mice use facial expressions to show varying levels of pain, so much so that they've developed a pain scale to illustrate this.

5.

The Anxiety of Crayfish

When we compare ourselves to animals we usually look at vertebrates for similarities. But crayfish experience anxiety much like we do despite being invertebrates. That isn't to say that other animals don't experience anxiety (they do—it's key to survival) but crayfish are the first invertebrates to experience the reaction the way we do, suggesting that crustaceans may feel pain.